The Gentler Sex
by LadyCordeliaStuart
Summary: Loki, still smarting from getting roundly beaten the last three times he menaced women, tries his hands at someone who should be easy prey.
1. Chapter 1

The Gentler Sex

Pepper leaned her head down, resting her hand over her strained eyes. The blue light from her laptop lit her closed eyelids as she sighed into her hand. No matter how many reports she wrote, how many books she balanced, there were always more. _There would be a lot _less _if _someone _didn't keep throwing wild parties and refuse to separate work and personal funds, claiming it was 'all from him anyway' and she could just 'throw an extra zero on there and let them keep the change'._

Pepper leaned back in the chair and stretched her back. It was three in the morning. She'd been at her computer for hours. And for what? She didn't even need this job. Tony had made it clear on multiple occasions, sober and otherwise, that he would be more than happy to throw a few million dollars her way as thanks for all she'd done for the company. She could be lounging in luxury right now, eating bonbons in a jacuzzi. Instead she was sitting on an ergonomically balanced but still stiff desk chair in Stark Tower.

She stood up, bracing a hand on her stiff back, and turned up the thermostat. _Getting kind of chilly in this silk nightgown. Sure would be nice if someone came and warmed me up, _she thought. She wasn't holding her breath. Sure, she and Tony were in an "open relationship". She was okay with that, mostly because Tony's needs, or at least his hubris, was more than any woman could take. It was funny, though, how when _she _was busy on a night _he _wanted to meet, how huffy he got and how downright catty he would be, sniping insults at her paramour and in more than one case offering them seven-figure payouts to move to Korea.

_That's it. I'm done, _Pepper decided. She slid her feet into her pink fuzzy slippers. She'd mentioned once that she'd never been able to find exactly the kind she wanted. Tony, in a moment of romantic sentiment, had bought an entire factory. She'd never told him that in all that inventory, there still hadn't been the exact kind she wanted. She just picked the closest ones and she _did _like them, especially because they reminded her of him. Surely he would have liked to be associated with pink fuzzy slippers.

Leaving the laptop and the ever-present but never urgent work behind, Pepper padded out to the minibar. She wasn't in the mood for a hard drink, but she knew Tony kept some drunk people snacks in there. She fixed herself a club soda and munched some pretzels as she leaned against the counter, wondering whether she should wait around or call it a night.

A building-shaking crash jarred Pepper so hard she dropped her glass, soda splattering her ankle. She kicked the glass aside, stomping as soon as it was safe.

_Oh my freaking god Tony I swear to god…_

If this was the first time, Pepper would have rushed toward the sound, cradling her man and worriedly asking if he was all right. If this was the second time, she would have sarcastically told him the door was over _there. _If this was the third time, she would have rolled her eyes. This was the _fifth _time. Five times that man had crashed into his own building, either because of "technical difficulties" or just because he was _goddamned _bored!

"Tony, what in the everlasting _heck _are you thinking? If you think you're getting some tonight…"

Tony's impacts usually left a shattered window, a suspicious lack of damage to any complicated equipment, and an unscathed Tony lounging 'sexily' awaiting her, still in his Iron Man suit. This was something else entirely. More than a window, the entire wall had been taken out by a vehicle the size of a tank, as well as some very expensive and complex computing devices. The design of the obvious spaceship was alien, but the gold coloring and regal aesthetic brought her mind straight to Asgard.

_Thor can be careless, but he's not rude. If he'd smashed into the building, he would already have been out by the time I got here, ready to apologize with a winning grin and assure me he'd fix it. _There was only one reason the driver wasn't out of the ship. There was only one man who would crash into Stark Tower, then wait until she arrived to dramatically open the door and step out.

Pepper turned tail and sprinted out of the room. Whatever Loki wanted, he was up to no good. And he was going to be _pissed _that she denied him an entrance.

* * *

Loki POV

Loki hovered outside Stark Tower, his ship cloaked to any human technology. He ran some scans on the building and smiled. There was a single human inside the tower. While his instruments couldn't ascertain identity, they could tell him it was a female, and she was in a bedroom. Unless it was one of Tony's whores, in which case he would disgustedly leave without even bothering to accost her, it was exactly who he was looking for.

In the two long days he'd spent in prison before breaking out, Loki had had time to plot his revenge. He had many things to avenge- far more, it seemed to him, than "the Avengers". At the top of his list was the maddening series of humiliating defeats handed to him by members of the gentler sex. Jane… Jane again… Natasha… Each time he'd tried to take what rightfully belonged to someone of his stature, the impudent humans had rebuffed him. This time, he would target a woman without a single defense. She had none of Jane's intelligence or Natasha's training. Pepper was a very plain, completely undistinguished Midgardian.

As a bonus, she was Tony's woman. More than anyone but Thor, Loki hated Tony. The arrogant, ceaselessly talking rodent insulted a god to his face, then made vulgar jokes about his prowess. Loki wanted nothing more than to smash that smug grin and choke the grating voice out of his throat. And he would do all of that. But first, he would see the prattling jester shocked to silence at the sight of what Loki had done to his woman.

Loki pressed down on the accelerator, crashing through the fragile window and fondly remembering how it made the same noise when he threw Tony through it. The ship jarred as it hit the floor and bounced slightly, and Loki was pleased there was no one to see the way it jostled him.

And now to wait. Good things must not be rushed. How demeaning it would be if Pepper rushed to the room while he was awkwardly deboarding the plane, one leg swung over the side and both hands steadying his tilted body? Such a moment came only once, and he would savor it.

Pepper ran into the room, dressed in a sensual pink nightdress and childish pink slippers. I'll get rid of those right away, Loki thought, then focused on her face. He had thought she would be concerned, but she looked upset. It occurred to him, then, that she probably assumed he was Tony, such bombastic entrances being the norm for him.

All the better. How her face would shift when he revealed himself. Confusion and fleeting concern would melt into recognition and then terror. Her skin would go pale, setting off the blush pink of her gown, and she would tremble. He reached for the switch that would release the hatch over his head, revealing himself.

Before he got there, Pepper turned around and ran.

What… what are you doing? Loki thought, shocked into momentary immobilization at her rudeness. I wasn't done yet!


	2. Tony Disregards Fire Code

Pepper sprinted down the hall, sliding her feet out of the soft-soled slippers so her bare feet would grip the floor better. She looked ahead of her for any refuge or barricade that might provide some time for a plan, and her eyes fell upon the fire alarm. As she ran toward it, there was a soft but noticeable popping sound, and the lights in the hallway went out.

_It's not going to work, _she thought as she smacked her hand against the fire alarm and yanked down. It didn't work.

_No, because Loki used some stupid Asgard technology to magically shut everything down, _she thought. _Because Asgard stuff is _so _good and _so _smart that it does anything you want and there's nothing us dumb little humans can do. It's like the sonic screwdriver. I HATE DOCTOR WHO!_

Despite Bruce's many invitations, Pepper had never been able to like his favorite nerd show. She had always hated shows like that, where the wise, all-knowing alien led the simple, short-lived human around like a pet. Just once, why couldn't the aliens be dumb as posts? And there was one other thing, one other thing so relevant and frustrating. The most damning reason Pepper had never been able to stomach Doctor Who was that she hated English accents.

_Stairs!_

Loki had every advantage imaginable in this situation, but one weapon immediately came to Pepper's mind. While Loki might be stronger, and faster, and probably smarter, he was also ridiculously vain. While he could tolerate running down a hallway, he would surely balk at the idea of scuttling madly down the stairs like a tap dancer. He would slow to a majestic walk, giving her time to put some distance between them.

Pepper stopped so suddenly she almost fell forward when she reached the stairs. She grabbed the door handle and yanked.

_Motherf…._

She'd warned Tony not to wire the doors to the mainframe. "_Then you can do this!" _he'd said, showing how the doors opened when he clapped his hands. "_It's like Star Trek!"_

"_What if there's a fire?" _she'd asked.

"_There's a manual fallback, of course," _he'd said.

"_Those never work," _she'd said, wondering if he'd ever even seen _The Towering Inferno._

_Those never _work, _Tony! _

Pepper abandoned the door, knowing that even though there was likely a way to coax it open, she simply didn't have the time. Sure enough, as she resumed running down the hall, she saw Loki's tall frame pass the doorway and his head turn toward her.

"Shy, Miss Potts? Clearly not, if you're Stark's woman," he said. To her horror, he ran lightly instead of walking after her.

Pepper tamped down the panic, telling herself to slow down and think. Things looked bad, but she had some options. She knew every room of this building, including Tony's little idiosyncrasies and in-jokes he built in. She knew which rooms were dead ends and which led to other rooms she could escape out of. If she stayed ahead of Loki for long enough and got to somewhere she had a few minutes, she could find a way to make a signal. Stark Tower was in New York, after all, not the middle of nowhere. _Someone _would see it.

_Someone already _has _seen it._

Loki didn't arrive subtly. He smashed through a window. There weren't any alarms, since he turned them off somehow, but surely Tony would be alerted if his entire building lost power. He was probably already on his way. She just needed to buy time.

Unlike the heavy double doors that led to the stairs, the conference room door was an ornate faux-wood specimen with a glass window so people could see if a meeting was in progress. Pepper grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall as she ran. When she reached the door, she smashed it through the glass, reaching through to unlock and open the door.

The conference room held nothing but a fancy long table and the accompanying chairs. However, it was ideal for Pepper's purposes. Tucked into one corner was a printing room with office machines and whatnot so conference members could print materials or whatever boring business people needed. Only people as trusted as Pepper knew that set into the walls, there was another door. This one led to a tiny wine closet, so Tony could excuse himself from a boring meeting to "grab some materials" and take a minute to make a drink and read some memes on his cell phone.

Inside the printing room, there were the normal scanners and printers and such. Close to the door, there was a table-sized receiver for some new transmitting system that had been all the rage a few years ago but never took off. Pepper crouched behind it, knowing exactly how stupid a hiding place it was and counting on Loki to overestimate her and think she'd gone to the much more secluded wine cellar. She clutched the fire extinguisher she'd never thought to put down, waiting for Loki to arrive.

She saw his shadow first. Around the edge of the machine, she could barely see a long leg step into the room. While the handle to the liquor cellar was subtle and the door matched the room's paint, it didn't escape Loki's sharp eyes. He strode across the room in three long steps, wrapping his hand around the handle and pulling the door open.

"Looking for somewhere private, my dove?" he asked, not knowing he addressed an empty room. "Strange, so am I." Pepper's mind turned away from what she knew Loki intended.

Pepper slowly stood, her legs burning with the awkward movement. She crept toward the door, intending to sneak out as Loki rifled through the small room, hopefully knocking some bottles around and disguising her noise.

Loki leaned back suddenly, shutting the door and turning toward her. _The crack, _she thought sickly, noting too late the door's tiny giveaway. Her mouth went dry and her heart shuddered as Loki's eyes stopped on her. He smiled, his angular face looking even more elfin when he did. He opened his mouth to say something. Pepper snapped up her arm, pointed the fire extinguisher nozzle at him, and pulled the trigger.


	3. Tony and the Wrong Sort of Choking

A puff of white foam shot out of the extinguisher, spraying across the small room and covering Loki in snowy sludge. He made a tiny noise of surprise, crossing his arms in front of his face and stepping back. Pepper pulled the trigger as far back as it went, blasting Loki and waving her arms up and down to also coat the floor in slippery gunk. Maybe six seconds later, when the pressure was waning and Loki was about to charge anyway, she turned tail and ran.

Behind her, Pepper could hear the squeaks and scrapes as Loki slid on the foam-covered floor, trying to run after her. She had expected some archaic outburst expressing fury at her impudence and maligning her ancestry and promiscuity, and she couldn't help but smirk when she realized Loki was quiet so he wouldn't get a mouthful of suds. As she reached the door to the conference room, she wheeled around and threw the extinguisher like a discus at the printing room. Loki, who had just stepped through the door and was wiping foam from his face, took a hit square to the chest. Pepper vainly hoped that his eyes looked like that because foam got in them and not because he was boiling mad.

Pepper darted back down the hall, toward the room Loki so rudely smashed into. It was a wide, spacious room, containing everything from a wet bar (of course) to a couch. Then there was the wall-to-wall window that admitted a lovely cityscape of New York. It was currently shattered by the Asgardian ship sitting on the floor.

Pepper scanned the room, looking for a hiding place. There were dozens of candidates, from the small but not quite too small cabinet under the bar to the air vents, if she was feeling cinematic. She didn't have the acrobatic skills for that, and moreover, she didn't have the time. Memories of childhood games of hide-and-seek came to mind- how she'd crouched in her perfect spots, giggling as she watched the seeker pass her by and finally give up.

From all her experience, Pepper knew the simplest spots were the best. She ran to the stack of logs by the fireplace. The fireplace was artificial, but the logs really tied the scene together. She wiggled her way behind them and pushed the bottom ones out slightly, making a little hollow that she could hide in. From the outside, it seemed like the logs were flush with the wall and the bottom ones were just a little longer.

It took Loki longer than it should have to enter the room. From between cracks in the logs, Pepper could see he was mostly clean, with just a few bits of foam clinging to his clothes. She smiled at the image of him stopping his insane revenge quest to demurely wipe himself off. He stomped through the room, checking likely spots and pushing things around in his pettishness.

_Now we're in it for the long haul, _she thought. Other than the nerve-wracking knowledge that her enemy was in the same room with her, tearing it apart to find her, things would be almost dull from this point on. All she had to do was sit tight and wait for Tony to get there.

* * *

Tony Stark POV

_I'm late. Well what else is new? Pepper will be mad for a few minutes and then roll her eyes and smile and we'll be fine._

Tony pulled on the front door to Stark Tower. When it didn't budge, his front half jerked awkwardly, since he hadn't at all expected that and had put his normal forceful weight into the movement.

_Huh? Did Jarvis get another virus? Or maybe it's a psychotic AI hellbent on destroying humanity. Equally probable these days._

Since Tony was the one who had designed the door, it was no trouble opening it. He did some tech wizard stuff and a moment later, the door slid open. He looked up, craning his neck to see the entire building.

_Pepper's light isn't on. Maybe she already went to bed. Perfect. That's where I wanted to go anyway, _he thought as he strode in.

_That's weird, _he thought as he started down the hall. Usually the lights came on as soon as the motion sensors found him. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Tony clapped his hands.

_Aha! _He thought, when nothing happened. _Something is definitely wrong. _Then curious perturbation gave way to genuine concern. _Where's Pepper?_

Tony bounded up the steps two at a time, wondering exactly why it was he thought his building needed so many floors. Goodness knows most of them were just filled with pools and video games anyway. And of course he put all the important stuff on the top floor. Really it would have been smarter to put that in the basement where it wasn't vulnerable to aerial attack, but… a top floor penthouse looked cooler.

_Okay. Get to the top floor. Put on Iron Man suit. Find Pepper. If there's a big threat, fight it in the Iron Man suit. If it was just something silly, make a big entrance in the Iron Man suit, which Pepper thinks is sexy. Win-win scenario._

Racing up the flights with the speed only a man anticipating saving a woman could manage, Tony arrived at the top floor, breathless and leaning against the wall. He quickly finessed the door open and stepped into the corridor.

_Oh look. One open door, right where I need to be. Guess I'll try that one._

Tony ran through the door, mouth opening to call his suit before he even took in the giant ship on the floor and the disheveled state of the rest of the room. But before he could say a word, a hand snaked around the door and grabbed him by the throat.


	4. Tony on the Wrong End of a Whooping

Pepper POV

At the sound of an opening door, Loki turned. He smiled a Cheshire grin as he slipped across the room, standing beside the open door.

_Be careful, Tony, _Pepper thought from her perch. Her stomach fluttered, because she had never in her life known Tony to be careful.

When Tony burst through the door, Pepper felt an instant's triumphant certainty that everything would be all right. Just as quickly, her heart lurched when Loki shot out an arm like a snake and picked Tony up by his throat.

_Don't panic, _Pepper thought. _This isn't the first time this has happened, and it didn't end well for Loki last time._

"Nothing to say? This is a first," Loki taunted Tony, shaking him lightly. Tony arched his back and pointed at Loki's hand on his throat. Indulgently, Loki obliged.

"Long time no see," Tony said with some strain. "I tried to send you a message, but I guess it didn't go through." Loki knitted his brow in confusion. "It was a bill for the floor. For the dent you made. You know, when Hulk handed you your ass."

Loki smiled. "Humans should be seen and not heard," he said. He swung his arm forcefully, smashing the lower half of Tony's face into the edge of the door. Pepper's stomach dropped at the crunching noise, and her breath caught when she saw Tony's eyes go wide with panic as he pressed a hand to his jaw. He hadn't been scared before. He was just calculating, making a plan to get a chance to call his suit. But he couldn't call his suit if _he couldn't speak._

Loki folded his arms as he loomed over Tony, who was scooting back on the floor and pushing himself up with his other arm. "Unlike you, your woman is actually capable of being still. She's been quite elusive. But I suspect you can find her quicker than I can."

He cocked back a leg and kicked Tony in the ribs. Pepper flinched at the way Tony jerked and his muffled groan, then froze when she knocked against the logs, jostling one. _Don't do something stupid. He's gotten out of worse than this before. He can take care of himself._

Pepper's optimism and loyal faith in Tony started to erode as events played out. As Tony was still uncurling himself, Loki kicked him again, this time in the face. There was a spray of blood from his nose, and the impact rolled him onto his side, leaving his back exposed. Pepper pressed her hands to her mouth before she even saw the impact, since Loki's boot was directly above Tony's kidney. When it landed, Pepper promised to swear forever to Tony that she had not heard his tiny squeal.

_Come on, Tony. You can do this. I need you, _Pepper thought. Tony had his rough edges… maybe more rough edges than smooth edges, but it was those few glimmers that first attracted her to him. He was vain, and selfish, and horribly immature, but he could be so much more. She'd seen him in his best moments, and she knew the greatest were yet to come. He was a hero for selfish reasons, but he _was _a hero. When all the flippancy and grandstanding were washed away and the world really needed him, she knew he'd step up. And she knew he'd do the same for her.

Loki picked Tony up by his shirt and carried him toward the window, casually demonstrating both his skill and his sheer height. Tony tried to punch him. Pepper cringed, for she didn't have Tony's easy confidence. Loki caught the hand easily, and Pepper saw his pale hand flex and his knuckles go white as he squeezed until there were three quiet _crack_s. Tony kept silent that time, but his face told Pepper everything.

"Puny man," Loki said. He picked Tony up over his head and threw him down full force, onto the exact spot, still marked by a thin seam, that Loki had hit courtesy of Hulk. With Loki, the floor dented. With Tony, he dented. Tears sprang to Pepper's eyes at the flat, sickening thump of Tony's back hitting the floor. Tony's chest quivered as he tried to breathe. He wheezed, and a trickle of blood dripped from his mouth.

Loki stepped on Tony's throat and leaned lightly into the movement. He turned up his head and looked around the room.

"It seems your woman has no heart," he said, loud enough for Pepper to hear, wherever she was hiding. "Women are such frigid things."

Pepper knew where this was going. Loki was about to say if she didn't come out, he'd kill Tony. She trembled, because even though she knew Tony would tell her not to, she would.

Tony's lips moved as he mumbled something she didn't hear, no doubt witty and insulting. Loki either didn't hear or didn't gratify it. He knelt by Tony, his cape spreading theatrically behind him. As Tony tried again to rise, Loki pinned one of his arms under his knee and casually held the other with a hand.

"Women think they have such power," he said. He bent closer, so Pepper had to strain to hear. "If the lady won't join us, there are other pleasures." Tony's eyes went round as Loki kissed him. For an instant he didn't even react, he was so shocked and unprepared. That was Pepper's breaking point.

* * *

**I defy anyone to read all those legends where Loki just HAD to disguise himself as a woman or seduce male gods and tell me that man was entirely straight.**


	5. Pepper and the Secret Weapon

"Okay, that's enough!"

Pepper's head appeared above the logs as she shoved them out, scattering wood across the floor. Loki's head snapped toward her and his eyes betrayed at once his uncertain amusement at a woman rising from a pile of logs, his annoyance that he hadn't looked there, and his glee that he'd gotten what he wanted. His shirt still held in Loki's hand, Tony looked over weakly.

"Just let him go and let's do this," Pepper said. _Unless you want him instead? You sure seemed into that, _she thought but didn't say.

"Pepper," Tony mumbled so incoherently Pepper wouldn't have been able to discern anything but her own name. He scrabbled at the ground with one hand. "Geahereaamkickisass…"

Loki dropped Tony and sashayed toward Pepper, a catty grin on his face. "Count yourself lucky. You're about to see what a real man is like," he said.

_Oh, honey, _Pepper thought, almost rolling her eyes. _That ship sailed long ago. You weren't the first and you will be far from the last. _She wasn't kidding herself that this wouldn't be traumatic, but Loki was of the opinion that he was some grand erotic force sweeping into her naive life. Far from it.

"You have what you want," she said, letting her voice shake and pretending to break off, like she'd lost the nerve to say something else. She shrank back as Loki reached her and snaked a hand around her waist, his leg brushing hers as he walked past her and pulled her toward the door. As they left, Tony vainly tried to crawl after them.

The hallway seemed much shorter than it had just minutes ago. Pepper bitterly wished she had Tony's sort of intelligence- the kind that would cook up half a dozen plans in the thirty seconds it took to walk to the bedroom. Her own talents lay more in organization, expediency, and common sense, none of which pertained to a mad demigod.

Loki shut the door behind them, leaning against it with his head nearly touching the doorjamb. "When I'm through with you, Stark won't know whether to be disgusted or ashamed.

_Is that how this seems to you? _Pepper felt a moment of pity for her tormentor. Loki really had no idea of what love and lovemaking was meant to be. All he knew was conquering and taking and winning. Even if he got everything he ever wanted, he'd still be lonely and alone.

"Allow me to make myself presentably," she said dryly. She walked to the en-suite bathroom and opened the door, showing Loki the lack of exits. "No doors, no windows, no secret passageways, not that they'd work with no electricity. I'll keep the door cracked for you."

"Do choose something becoming," Loki said, sitting on the bed and stretching a long leg out to touch the door. "Perhaps something green?"

Tony was more of a classic red sort of guy, and Pepper was secretly crazy about purple lingerie, but she had quite the collection, largely from Tony seeing something that caught his eye. He brought home far more than she could wear, in fact, and she'd never before worn the dark green gown she slid out of the wardrobe.

_I'm not like Tony. I can't make half a million plans in thirty seconds. But I can make one._

It wasn't coquettish submission that led Pepper to suggest, of her own accord, that she dress up to be raped. The electricity in the building was off, but batteries still worked fine. Like the batteries in her curling iron. Her hand hidden behind the mostly closed door, she turned the iron on and leaned it against the wall, slipping a tissue into its grip. She slipped the satin gown over herself and returned to the bedroom. As she stepped through the door, Loki, who had crept beside it, slid into view and twirled her by the waist onto the bed.

"My lady, you seem almost eager," he said, one hand planted by her head and the other beneath her ribs. His thumb curled, and she felt it dig into her breast.

"I hope it lives up to expectations," she said, trying for a mixture of spirited and reluctantly seduced.

Loki hitched up his leg, bringing his knee next to her waist. "It will be unforgettable," he said.

Long before the world had gone crazy and spat out dozens of costumed crusaders, a spate of muggings in New York had led Pepper to attend a few weeks of self-defense classes. The class had focused mainly on preventative techniques, but there was also instruction in judo. Unlike more aggressive martial arts, judo was centered around the idea of using the enemy against himself. Even with the craftiest of plans, Pepper was still at a staggering disadvantage. Her plan hinged entirely on Loki being as vain and dignified as she was gambling.

As Loki slowly moved a hand toward the hemling of her gown, Pepper knew he wouldn't disappoint. Instead of tearing the gown off outright, he sensuously slid it up, just enough to bare her thigh. He ran his hand up it, leaving gooseflesh at his cold touch. Pepper felt a bubbling of revulsion and and discomfort, but no actual fear. Whatever Loki thought was about to shatter her world, she'd already done it. You couldn't be Tony Stark's girlfriend if you weren't down with some kinky stuff. And Tony had a hundred times more experience than this faux-romantic joke.

Loki's hand ceased the pretence of modesty and slid over her breast. His fingers curled and started to stroke, as if he had some asinine inkling that Pepper might experience pleasure from being assaulted. She shook off the urge to push his hand away, reminding herself to shower when it was over. _Just a quick shower. Wash all this away._

Loki shifted upward higher onto Pepper, his legs on either side of her. He lowered his head and Pepper had to suppress a face of disgust at her initial thought, before she realized he was only going in for a kiss. He kissed the hollow of her throat, leaving her wanting to squirm away at his unwanted pressure on such a vulnerable area. His free hand caressed down her side and hooked against her hip, his fingers landing on her inner thigh.

Involuntarily, Pepper squirmed, giving Loki the exact wrong idea. "Is that what you like?" he asked, his hand on her breast shifting. "I wouldn't want you to think me selfish. It wouldn't do to start before you're ready."

_The heat death of the universe will come before I am ready, _Pepper thought. But as much as she hated the thought, this was a good thing. Loki thought she was about to be overcome with passion and all the sorts of things cheap romance novels presented. She could already detect the faintest scent in the air. Only a few more minutes…

Loki sat up and slid his hand to Pepper's neckline. He started to pull down on the fabric at the same time as he leaned down, perhaps thinking his tongue was quicker than his fingers. At that moment, the entire room was drenched in foam.


	6. BONUS CHAPTER

Most fire systems sprinkled water when activated. Stark Tower, having been designed by a genius engineer and reinforced after several disasters with the help of a genius chemist and a genius nanoscientist, was different. Bruce had suggested a thermophilic insulating foam that would target sources of heat, cover them entirely to cut off oxygen, and dissolve in five seconds to leave no mess and a smothered fire. The alarms were highly sensitive, since a single burning wire could cause millions of dollars in damage. A tissue ignited by a slowly warming curling iron was more than enough.

Loki, taken aback by being blanketed in blinding foam, reared back and took his arms off Pepper in order to wipe his face. Pepper, who had been anticipating this from the start, had no such hesitation. She rolled underneath Loki and launched herself off the bed. She darted underneath it, hands scrambling for the little trapdoor built into the bottom of the bed.

Since the Chitauri invasion, Tony hadn't been the same. Despite his bluster and denials, Pepper knew PTSD when she saw it. It only got worse when he almost lost her to Killian. The man who used to be wholly absorbed in how flashy he could make his flying gun now jumped at loud noises and hated, more than anything else, the thought of real violence happening to anyone. Many men in his situation might have stocked a pistol under their bed. Tony had something else.

"Stupid ewe!" Loki bellowed. "Under the bed? Like a cowering child?"

He grabbed her protruding leg and yanked, and even though Pepper knew it was inevitable, it shook her how easily he dragged her one-handed. She would have been terrified if her plan hadn't worked.

Loki yanked Pepper out easily, laying her flat out in the narrow crack between the bed and the wall. She half-rose and bit him on the hand. He yowled and snapped his arm sideways, lifting her off the ground and tossing her over the bed, where she landed painfully on the ground near the door. She could have run right then, but she had something else to do.

She took the taser out from behind her back. There was a low, ominous electrical snap as she pulled the trigger. Three prongs shot out and embedded themselves in Loki's chest. Loki's jaw clenched and he stiffened as the electricity shot through him. He fell halfway back against the bed, vibrating and twitching. Pepper threw the taser at him, tangling the cord in his legs to further slow him down. Only then did she run for it.

Pepper sprinted down the hall, nearly overbalancing and falling flat in her haste. She was almost to the room Tony was in before she heard the enraged howl that signaled Loki's success in ripping the prongs out of himself.

"WOMAN!" came a screeching yell from the bedroom, and then something even worse: running footsteps.

Pepper shot into the lounge just as a shadow foretold Loki exiting the bedroom door. As expected, Tony was not where she'd left him. He was slumped against a panel in the wall, fumbling with an electronic lock. Pepper ran to his side and crouched beside him. He pointed at the combination lock, which was halfway filled out.

_696_

"Of course," Pepper muttered, filling in the other three numbers. She didn't even have to ask. _Of course _Tony would make the combination to his futuristic laser gun cabinet "69-69-69". As Loki's footsteps thundered down the hall, Pepper yanked the cabinet open and grabbed the first thing she found.

"Whichonesthat?" Tony mumbled.

_I DON'T CARE IT JUST BETTER BE POINT AND SHOOT, _Pepper thought, aiming at the door.


	7. Pepper Sprays and Pepper Prays

In the instant before Loki appeared in the doorway, Pepper's eyes flicked to the words on the gun's barrel. _HULK SNARER, _it read, filling Pepper with exultation. _If it can stop Bruce, it will do a number on Loki._

Loki ran into view. Pepper fired. A high-pressure spray shot from the gun, knocking her back a step and pushing her arms up until she was aiming at the ceiling. _Did it stop him? _She thought

Loki stumbled into the room, wiping at the oily substance coating his face. Pepper's heart stopped when he charged at her. _It didn't work, _she thought. Then his legs shot backwards and he fell headlong, twisting midair and catching himself on his hands and knees before he could faceplant.

_It's just _oil, Pepper thought, tossing the gun aside and grabbing another one. _A chestful of awesome weapons, and I grab the banana peel gun. _Even in the circumstances, she did get an instant of amusement from noting that the name wasn't _wrong. _While firepower wasn't the way to stop the Hulk, this literally would bring him down.

Pepper wasted no time aiming the next weapon at Loki. She gained an instant when he tried to rise and his left foot shot out sideways, making him lurch to retain balance. He was already coming at her again when she fired.

_PLINK_

There was a soft, metallic ting, and the entire world winked. The flash of light was so bright it engulfed everything, creating, for an instant, a blankly void universe. Pepper reeled, suppressing the urge to toss down the weapon and rub her eyes. It took a second before she was able to see anything. When Loki settled into view, she saw he was similarly affected. He was shaking his head, and while he was looking in her direction, his gaze was unfocused.

"Do any of these _hurt people?!" _Pepper shouted at Tony. She felt an out-of-place moment of empathy when she realized she knew the answer, and that she knew exactly why Tony had designed half a dozen effective but nonlethal weapons.

Without warning, the flash went off again. Pepper looked down at the trigger and saw it was actually a dial. _Well, well. _She cranked it all the way up and dropped the weapon. She knew the floorplan of the room easily, having spent countless hours there working or doing other things. She didn't _need _to see. She could run in deeper, putting space between herself and Loki and buying time for the rest of the Avengers to arrive. She grabbed a hand-sized gun from the weapons cabinet, tucked it into her waistband, and fled.

It was satisfying to watch Loki making his way into the room with squinted eyes and a hand thrown in front of his face like Dracula. Unfortunately, even when he was blind, it wasn't difficult for him to triangulate the weapon's location. He reached it in a few long strides and stomped on it. It crumpled like tin foil, making Pepper's stomach drop. Loki's head snapped up and his eyes landed on her, focusing with sharklike speed. When he came at her, he was running full tilt.

Pepper knew there was no chance of outrunning Loki. There wasn't even any chance of outmaneuvering him. The only thing she had any chance of doing was drawing it out as long as possible. She ran for the lounge couch in the center of the room. When Loki easily caught up to her, she waited until the last second and took a wild diving leap, somersaulting over the couch in a movement Loki could only follow by doing the same thing. He instead skidded to a stop and reoriented, giving Pepper time to roll to her knees and launch herself back forward. As she rose, she grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it like a discus at his head. It did no damage, but he stopped to angrily bat it aside with a noise of vexation. Without stopping, she started grabbing anything she could reach and pelting him with it. A paperweight, a pen, a chair she toppled behind her, a cell phone, and a wax orange were among her arsenal, each annoying Loki and buying a handful of inches.

Loki snaked out a hand, snagging her arm as she passed the wet bar. He yanked, curving her sideways so she smashed her hip into the wood of the bar. She knew her only prayer was to keep up her frenetic, seat-of-the-pants strategy, and she acted appropriately. As he reached around for her hip and spun her to face him, she grabbed a half-full glass of scotch and clocking him in the side of the head with it. She knew his head was far stronger than any Earth glass, which left only one thing to give. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back as she struck, avoiding the shards that sprayed every which way, including Loki's face. Even so, she couldn't avoid the chunks that sank into her hand as the glass buckled in her grip. She hissed at the knifing, crescent-shaped lacerations at her palm, but when Loki reeled back and brought both hands to his face, she took her moment and ran.

"No more tricks, midgardian."

A hand clamped on her shoulder, twisting her sideways and tossing her to the ground. Her cheek smacked against the hard floor, sending pain echoing through her head. She pushed herself onto her back and would have gotten up, but Loki's hand was already on her collar. He lifted her to her feet, pulling her to him until they nearly touched. She scrabbled at his hand, trying to loose herself and run, but she knew there was no hope.


	8. Pepper Kicks Loki's Butt

**I noticed I had some reviews, so I thought I better finish this! Here you go.**

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Loki smiled at her paltry efforts, then wrapped his arm around the back of her head and pulled her lips into his. Pepper could smell the scent of his skin, and she felt the head radiating from him. She put her hands on his shoulders and stiffened her arms, trying to force some distance. The strain her efforts put on the kiss evidently ruined Loki's fun, since he eased off the pressure, leaving her on her toes at his arm's length.

"If you'd just done as you were told, we'd have made love on a king's bed," Loki said softly, and she wished he was yelling. "Now there's only the floor, and I'm afraid you'll be bruised before we're done." His wide smile held little malice. Instead it was filled with the genuine anticipation he seemed to be feeling.

Through it all, Pepper kept her head. Loki was the devious one. Tony was the brilliant one. All she had to depend on was old-fashioned levelheadedness. This was a tight situation, but panicking would solve nothing. She looked out behind Loki's head, at the window his back was toward. It was spiderwebbed from the impact of his ship, and beyond it, all of New York could witness what was about to come. She kept her head, and focused her thoughts, and made her move.

She knew it was a gamble, but there was nothing else to do. Loki had been blinded by the strobe gun, his keen Asgardian eyes even more affected than hers. He gave no indication that he had any idea of her capability. One of his arms was gripping her collar, and the other wound around her waist. It left both her own arms open. Both her hands were on Loki's at her collar. She dropped one, letting it fall to her side. Cranking her wrist sideways, she slid her hand inside the waistband of her pants and took out the pistol she'd tucked there. Her matched her gaze with Loki, watching to make sure he wasn't looking down. He was looking solidly at her, gloating at her undivided attention. She brought her arm up, carefully gliding it along her own flesh so he wouldn't feel anything. She pulled the trigger at the same instant the muzzle touched the underside of his chin.

Pepper hadn't been expecting fatal results, and she was right. She had, however, hoped for _effective _results, and that had also come true. A salvo of BB pellets sprayed from the muzzle of the pistol, scattering every direction as they ricocheted off Loki. Pepper winced as some of the pellets shot past her, ripping her skin and barely missing her eyes. The force of the discharge knocked Loki's head back and tipped him off-balance. He took a step back to regain his footing, and the exact opposite happened when his foot came down on one of the pellets. It shot out from under his weight, tipping him backward again. His leg went out, leaving him standing on just one. When his weight shifted, his other leg buckled, the oil from Pepper's first attack the damning straw. Momentum carried him backward as he tripped, and his back smashed into the window- the window covered in dangerous, portentous cracks.

As though it was in slow motion, Pepper watched the glass distort, buckle, and burst. Loki arced downward, his arms paddling at air. She didn't think about how close they were until the hand came at her, closing around her wrist and yanking her like a cowboy dragged behind a bolting horse.

Faster than she could register, Pepper was on her stomach, sliding toward the missing window. From far behind her, she faintly heard Tony scream her name. Glass ground into her stomach as Loki's weight dragged her forward. She stuck out her legs and free arm as she neared the edge, wedging herself against the metal edges of the frame. The jagged edges of the window stuck her, thick knives punching into her flesh. As her position stopped her forward movement, all of Loki's weight hung dead on her arm. It was an unbearable force, straining her arm and torturing her shoulder. It was far too much for her to hold. In a handful of seconds her strength would fail and they'd both fall.

Pepper had a handful of seconds to come up with a plan. She looked down at Loki, swinging lightly at the end of her arm, his steely fingers digging divots into her skin. He had a damnable expression of not fear, but calculation. She knew then that if he fell, it wouldn't kill him. He was only set on getting back into the building because of his unfinished business with her. She knew that in an instant, he would reach up with his other arm and try to haul himself up. Either she'd fall before he made it and she would die, or he'd succeed, pull her back in, and do what he'd come to do. He smiled up at her like a demon, ready to either destroy her soul or own it.

Pepper didn't give him the instant. She craned her head out the window, her stomach roiling at the ground so far beneath her. She snaked out her tongue and licked Loki's hand.

"_Blehhhh"_

Pepper didn't even notice the sound she reflexively made at the childish tactic. She ran her tongue thickly across Loki's hand, tasting the weirdly flat flavor of skin. Loki's face soured and he recoiled with his entire body, his fingers curling away from her assault. An instant of distraction, combined with the sheen of oil still glistening on Loki's hand, was all it took. His fingers slid free of her wrist, releasing her from the unbearable weight. Her head snapped forward when he shot out a hand and grabbed at her head. There was an instant of tearing pain, and then he was falling, half a handful of hair wafting around him.

Pepper wished Stark Tower was taller. It was far too brief before Loki hit the ground. Unfortunately, the tower _was _tall enough that she couldn't hear the crash. She waved goodbye on her stomach, smirking down at Loki before she gingerly pushed herself back away from the window and stood. She turned immediately to tend to Tony and saw that he had scooted himself halfway across the room in an attempt to come to her aid.

"Tony, don't move!" she shouted, running to him. "Your… everything is broken!"

As Pepper was still telling the 911 operator Tony's condition, there was a flurry of movement in the doorway. She crouched behind Tony, preparing to throw the now-empty pistol at the attackers. At the sight of a star emblazoned on a blue uniform, she relaxed, toppling forwards over Tony.

_Good response time there, team. You really got 'em._

Steve blazed into the room, his eyes flickering over Pepper and Tony to triage that she was largely unharmed but he needed immediate medical attention.

"Bruce!" Steve said, kneeling by Tony. He was obviously dying to help but knew that he couldn't be moved.

"Wrong kind of doctor," Bruce said. "But don't worry. They're coming."

"What happened here?" Clint asked, looking at Tony. When Tony didn't reply, he looked closer.

"It must be _really _bad."

Natasha looked down at Pepper, covered in streams of blood and missing a chunk of hair.

"You should see the other guy," Pepper said, looking at the open window.

Natasha walked over and looked out, down at the barely visible impact where Thor was no doubt containing the situation. She looked back sidelong at Pepper, hands on her hips.

"Damn. You go, girl."

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**If you liked this, keep an eye out! There are still a few women Loki hasn't failed to accost yet, so we shall return!**


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